Rick Reilly

My mom used to say, “What you do comes back to you.” She would’ve loved the final of the UEFA Champions League. Manchester United — the team with the giant AIG across its jerseys — got beat by FC Barcelona, the team with the UNICEF logo across its, 2-0. How cool is that? Barcelona does it all backwards. It blew off a jersey sponsorship deal worth tens of millions, like the best UEFA teams sign, and instead decided to donate $2 million a year to UNICEF for the privilege of wearing its name. And Barcelona will do it for two more seasons. Manchester, meanwhile, is wearing the logo of one of the world’s greediest — and most ruinous — corporations in history. Karma. Who says you can’t love soccer?